Tag Archives: Queens soccer stadium

Renderings of a possible stadium for the new Major League Soccer (MLS) team, New York City Football Club, made their way onto the Internet yesterday.

The renderings were made in 2012 by the organization, but it is not known who leaked them online.

“This rendering was a conceptual design that Major League Soccer produced when considering Pier 40 as a potential soccer stadium,” said Dan Courtemanche, MLS executive vice president of communications. “On a daily basis New York City FC is working on a long-term stadium solution.”

MLS has considered building a 25,000-seat stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, which was supported by a few politicians. However, recently that idea has seen numerous kickbacks.

About two weeks ago Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on his radio show that Yankee Stadium will be the home for the New York City Football Club. This statement was later retracted.

The Flushing Meadows-Corona Park proposal has also drawn opposition from Councilmember Leroy Comrie, chair of the council’s Land Use Committee, and Senator Tony Avella, who suggested the stadium be built in the Rockaways.

“Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is used by residents from all across Queens, and this usage by Major League Soccer would negatively impact park life,” Comrie previously said to The Courier. “While there are many soccer fans here in Queens, there are more appropriate places to build this stadium.”

Avella recently penned a bill aimed at preventing proposals to change parkland use, which would require parkland taken for projects to be replaced with three times the space and within one mile of the project. If passed by the legislature after summer recess, it would lower the chances of getting the stadium in Queens.

The expansion team, which is jointly owned by English club Manchester City F.C. and the New York Yankees, will not begin play until 2015.

The possibility that Queens might have a soccer stadium got another kick backwards.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Yankee Stadium will be the home for the new Major League Soccer (MLS) team, the New York City Football Club, on his latest weekly radio show.

“Yankee Stadium will become the home of the New York City Football Club, the first soccer club in the five boroughs since the 1970s,” Bloomberg said on Sunday, July 14, according to reports.

However, the mayor apparently committed a foul, and the statement was retracted.

“The script for the mayor’s radio address overstated the possibility that the New York Football Club could play some games at Yankee Stadium while they search for a permanent home,” said Julie Wood, a mayoral spokesperson. “No decision has been made on where they will play.”

The expansion team, which is jointly owned by English club Manchester City F.C. and the New York Yankees, will not begin play until 2015. Observers have speculated that the MLS has considered building a 25,000-seat stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Councilmember Julissa Ferreras and Assemblymember Francisco Moya, who has been a soccer fan since he was a child, have been advocating for the stadium. They say it would be an economic and cultural boon to the borough.

“Queens is the most diverse borough and is home to the largest soccer loving community in the city,” Moya said. “I remain confident that the stadium will be built in Queens.”

However, the proposal has drawn opposition from park lovers.

“Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is used by residents from all across Queens, and this usage by Major League Soccer would negatively impact park life,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie, chair of the council’s Land Use Committee. “While there are many soccer fans here in Queens, there are more appropriate places to build this stadium.”

Senator Tony Avella, who has suggested the stadium be built in the Rockaways, recently penned a bill apparently aimed at preventing proposals to change parkland use. That bill would require parkland taken for projects to be replaced with three times the space and within one mile of the project. If passed, it would lower the chances of getting the stadium in Queens.

The Senate’s Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Committee is expected to decide on the bill after the legislature’s summer recess.

Thursday: Overcast with rain showers. High of 46. Winds from the WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Thursday night: Overcast with a chance of rain. Low of 36. Winds from the WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 20%.

EVENT OF THE DAY: Comedy Show Featuring Lisa Corrao

Middle-school-teacher-turned-comedian Lisa Corrao, who has recently participated in the Women in Comedy Festival, the Boston Comedy Festival, the She-Devil Comedy Competition and Comedy Central’s South Beach Comedy Festival, will headline a show at the Laughing Devil Comedy Club with NYC comics Gabe Pacheco, Lucas Connolly, Miguel Dalmau, Scott Sharp and special guest Gene Harding. Click here for more info or to submit an event of your own

MLS commissioner Don Garber sets time limit for deal to build soccer stadium in Queens, says league will explore other cities if necessary

Don Garber, commissioner of MLS, warned the city on Wednesday that his soccer league will look elsewhere to expand if it can’t cut a deal with officials for a new Corona Park stadium in a relatively short period. Read more: New York Daily News

Hurricane Sandy aid registration deadline extended

New Yorkers who were affected by Superstorm Sandy now have another 30 days to sign up to get help from FEMA. Read more: ABC New York

Rockaway organizations are calling for farmers markets following Superstorm Sandy

When Superstorm Sandy tore through Rockaway, shuttering grocery stores for months, many locals were left without many food options. Read more: New York Daily News

Kindergartener walks out of school, no one notices

Little Angelo says that no one said anything to him as he walked out of school. It’s very hard to say exactly how Angelo Geremia left his school all by himself Wednesday, but what we do know is that some time after 10:30 a.m. at P.S. 229, the 5-year-old kindergartener pushed open the big doors and walked outside. Read more: ABC New York

Benedict says goodbye to cardinals, promises obedience to successor

Pope Benedict XVI promised his “unconditional reverence and obedience” to his successor in his final words to his cardinals Thursday, a poignant farewell before he becomes the first pope in 600 years to resign. Read more: CBS New York

U.S. Army says it faces “dire” financial situation as cuts loom

A senior military budget officer said on Wednesday that converging financial pressures could leave the U.S. Army with just $2 billion to spend on operations, maintenance and training this year after it has funded the war in Afghanistan and other security needs. Read more: Reuters

The controversial Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park finally showed its face, but then went back into hiding.

According to the blog A Walk in the Park, fans and those opposed got their first glimpse of the proposed stadium on Tuesday, February 26. The renderings were leaked after a video was uploaded of a February 1 presentation at the Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, where Gregg Pasquarelli of SHoP Architects paused his focus on the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to give his students a view of what he called an unnamed project at an unknown location.

Hours after the images spread around the Internet, the video was pulled off the SB Nation “Nets Daily” blog, where it was first published. According to the blog, viewers got a taste of the exterior and interior of the stadium and an idea of just how large the structure will be.

The leaked images of the proposed stadium, say detractors, brought to reality some of the problems the project will bring to the community.

“This is a nightmare, now we know why MLS has been trying so hard to keep renderings of the stadium out of the public eye. This is massive. The stadium represents the equivalent of parking three enormous aircraft carriers in the middle of a public park,” said Geoffrey Croft of NYC Park Advocates.

Yet, according to Major League Soccer, the drawings show nothing.

“These drawings do not represent what the stadium will look like,” MLS president Mark Abbott said in a statement. “In fact, we haven’t selected an architect yet and will not start the design process until we have an owner for the club. This was simply a concept drawing that was done only to help determine the potential height and footprint.”

Plans for the MLS stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park were announced in October and it is expected to seat 25,000 soccer fans and host 20 games a year.

Kicking in their support for hundreds of potential jobs, several construction unions have backed the proposed Major League Soccer (MLS) stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The Hotel Trades Council; the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York; and 32BJ SEIU all backed the project for its potential to give union workers jobs and provide nearly 1,000 full and part-time jobs after construction is completed. “

A Major League Soccer stadium in Queens will be good for the working men and women of New York City; it will create good jobs and enhance the park,” said Hector Figueroa, president of 32BJ. “We are committed to continuing to work with MLS and the community to make sure this is done in a way to benefit the area as a whole.”

The stadium building is expected to create more than 2,000 union construction according to MLS officials. Unions have already delivered messages of support to projects such as the development at neighboring Willets Point, which is expected to create an upwards of 12,000 union construction jobs.

“The economy in Queens is still hurting,” said Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York. “The recession is still taking a toll on middle and lower income families, and it would be a shame for Queens to be shut out of such a tremendous opportunity for good jobs. That’s why we will fight to make sure this project is successful and benefits Queens’ working families.”

MLS spokesperson Risa Heller said the league was thrilled to garner union backing on the project. The League is committed to creating jobs, she said, both directly at the stadium and spurring economic growth around the park.

“We are thrilled to have the support of unions who represent hundreds of thousands of working men and women,” she said. “They understand, as we do, what an important economic engine this stadium will be. We look forward to working with them to make it a reality.” The stadium, and its economic promises, have been met with criticism from opponents to the project, however.

NYC Park Advocates president Geoffrey Croft, who’s opposed to the project, said the union backing was part of a “checklist” of gaining support for an unfair project. While he understood there’s a need for jobs in the city, Croft said jobs should be made for bettering the park, and not building in it.

“It’s really sad,” Croft said. “They’re following the standard playbook for supposed support for these projects.”

Thursday: Mostly cloudy. High of 34F with a windchill as low as 16. Winds from the East at 5 to 10 mph. Thursday night: Overcast with a chance of snow, then snow after midnight. Low of 30 with a windchill as low as 23. Winds from the SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 80%.

EVENT OF THE DAY: Peking Operas

Celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year with arias and episodes from two famous Peking Operas, Filial Visit of the Fourth Son and Henpecked King, presented by the New York Chinese Opera Society at the Flushing Libary . Free. Click here for more info or to submit an event of your own

NYC looking at 4-8 inches of snow, points north and east much more Friday

Forecasters say a nor’easter slated to hit Friday could dump large amounts of rain and snow across the Tri-State Area. Read more: CBS New York

No new date for NYC primaries after Albany lawmakers nix June, August proposals

Albany lawmakers are unable to agree on an earlier date for the New York City primaries, even after the city Board of Elections has sounded the alarm about the potential for chaos if the elections are held as scheduled in September. Read more: NBC New York

Man expected to plead guilty in alleged Federal Reserve bomb plot

A 21-year-old Bangladesh national is expected to appear in a federal court in Brooklyn Thursday to plead guilty to trying to blow up the Federal Reserve. Read more: NY1

NYC first to get realistic shooting simulation game for kids

A shooting simulation game that lets children pretend to have shootouts in an indoor fake village with a bank, offices and what appears to be a school has come to Queens and is raising concern among law enforcement authorities. Read more: NBC New York

A trio of unions is throwing their weight behind a contentious proposal to construct a soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the Daily News has learned. Read more: New York Daily News

Subway safety campaign features bloody MetroCards

Shocking MetroCards splattered with blood and the grim reaper are being handed out in an effort to get your attention. Read more: ABC New York

Brennan to face questions on interrogations, drones and leaks

President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the CIA, John Brennan, is expected to face tough questioning about leaks of sensitive information and U.S. spy activities from waterboarding to the use of drones when he appears at a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday. Read more: Reuters

Former Councilmember Sal Albanese, who recently announced he’s running for mayor as an independent Democrat, has high hopes for improving public safety and the city’s education system.

Albanese, who represented mostly Bay Ridge for 14 years, said he was building a campaign based on voter needs and not special interest groups.

“We’re building a grass-roots campaign around the city,” Albanese, 63, told The Courier. “I want to get to City Hall with a broad base of support.”

Albanese spent 11 years as a teacher and said he would partner with education colleges throughout the city and strengthen the student-teacher program if elected mayor.

Albanese said he would hire 3,800 new police .officers for patrols in the outer boroughs where crime might be ignored or under-reported. “If you have nobody on patrol…these things can drive people out of neighborhoods,” he said.

For Queens, Albanese said he would focus on ensuring continued development is done properly, and the borough recovers and rebuilds after Sandy.

All options and effects should be explored before officially jumping on a project such as the proposed Major League Soccer stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. “[It] could really be a positive thing,” he said. “But we have to balance that with the parkland.”

Despite a lengthy term on the council, Albanese has not been in public office for about 15 years and is running in a primary against many Democratic incumbents. Some opponents include: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

On the Republican front:

Less than a week after his announcement, and after a long-expected endorsement, Republican Mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis picked up the backing of the Queens GOP on Friday, February 1.

“John Catsimatidis has the right experience as an independent businessman to lead New York and solve our city’s problems with common sense,” said party chair Phil Ragusa in a statement. The grocery store magnet is one of only a handful of candidates whose career hasn’t been in public service. Upon his endorsement, Catsimatidis noted his father worked as a bus boy at Riccardo’s in Astoria.

“I am very pleased to accept the Queens County Republican Party’s official endorsement,” Catsimatidis said. “My father who came over from the old country when I was just six months of age worked hard for our family and taught me the value of hard work and because he worked hard we never knew we were poor.”

John Ferrera, head of the Junction Boulevard Merchants Association, noted that a professional soccer arena in the heart of Queens would spur local culture and be an economic boon to the area.

“You’ll see for yourself, whenever there’s a major soccer match between countries, how excited the neighborhoods get in Queens,” said Ferrera, who’s been in business on Junction for more than 30 years. “It is a perfect time and place.”

More than 1,000 small businesses have signed letters of support, and put up signage, to bring a Major League Soccer (MLS) Stadium to Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The announcement, held at El Sabor Latino in Elmhurst on Friday, January 18, featured elected officials, business leaders and shop owners in the neighborhood.

Should a potential 25,000-seat arena go into the park, MLS officials expect businesses in nearby Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst to see significant patronage from fans before and after games. Though there is no concrete amount of economic activity the stadium could bring to northern central Queens, it should be significant, said Brett Lashbrook, the league’s point man for the project.

Lashbrook cited MLS’ “March to the Match,” in which fans will often meet up at a local establishment in walking distance from an arena. The national and international tradition, he said, has been widely successful for businesses around stadiums.

“We all know what it can do potentially,” said State Senator Jose Peralta. “And that’s why Major League Soccer has the support of over 1,000 small businesses in the, because they understand that the backbone of this community, the small businesses, will also receive an improvement in their bottom line while working towards debt consolidation.”

Peralta said the city and residents should not turn down a potential good deal when they see it, but promised to “hold [league officials’] feet to the fire” on fulfilling the promises attached to the project. Some of these include pouring money into Flushing Meadows to revive the park.

Components of the project are still left wide open, including who will own the team, where displaced parkland will go and what ramifications are yet to come.

Any lost parkland would have to be replaced in a relatively close area. Lashbrook said the league had not picked out a site for the potential new greenspace, but acknowledged a portion of the Queensway — a proposed walkway from Rego Park to Ozone Park — has been suggested as a possibility.

But while fans are expected to be drawn to businesses along Roosevelt Avenue, known for hosting passionate crowds during international games, there are currently no plans in the works to repair the pothole-ridden thoroughfare, which has been infected with questionable activity, through city financing.

“[T]here won’t be any city financing,” Lashbrook said. “[We are] committed to replacing the parkland…committed to improving and upgrading all the soccer fields in the park, as well as making a significant investment — that’s millions and millions of dollars — in upgrading the park as a whole as well as the adjacent neighborhoods.”

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy with a chance of rain, then a chance of rain in the afternoon. High of 70. Winds from the South at 5 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 20%. Wednesday night: Mostly cloudy in the evening, then clear. Low of 61. Breezy. Winds from the WNW at 15 to 20 mph with gusts to 30 mph.

This cautionary Bronx tale is one to avoid repeating. Bronx activists had some advice on Tuesday for Queens: Keep your precious park land and ignore the stadium sweet talk. Read more: New York Daily News

Queens man cleared of stealing police weapons for cash

Ronald De Shields faced serious charges. He was accused of sneaking into the 103rd Precinct in Queens, breaking into lockers and stealing two 9 mm guns from officers. Read more: NY1

Homeless sex offenders housed near school

Angry parents are demanding answers after a building that was supposed to house families in need in Queens is now home to some dangerous sex offenders. Read more: ABC New York

St. John’s dean Cecilia Chang ‘betrayed the students she was supposed to mentor’ by forcing them to work for her or lose scholarships, feds say

A disgraced St. John’s University dean threatened to revoke the scholarships of foreign students unless they washed her underwear, cleaned her home and cooked her meals, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday. Read more: New York Daily News

MTA fare, toll hike hearings scheduled

Public hearings will be held in November over the proposed increase in fares and tolls by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Read more: Fox New York

Choice dining time surcharges likely coming to New York City restaurants

The next time you go out to eat, you may end up paying more at your favorite restaurant. Read more: CBS New York

Sandusky gets at least 30 years, denies wrongdoing

In what sounded at times like a locker room pep talk, Jerry Sandusky rambled in his red prison suit about being the underdog in the fourth quarter, about forgiveness, about dogs and about the movie “Seabiscuit.” Read more: AP

Toyota to recall 7.4 million vehicles over power window glitch

Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said it would recall more than 7.4 million vehicles worldwide as a faulty power window switch was a potential fire hazard, the latest in a series of setbacks that have dented the reputation of Japan’s biggest automaker. Read more: Reuters